30’s & 40’s

In “A Tale of Two Cities”, Charles Dickens said, “These are the best of times; these are the worst of times.” Democrats are committed to making only “the best of times” for all Americans.

In order for “the best of times” to hold true, we must face down these issues: Jobs and the economy, education, healthcare, and equitable taxation. Below we describe a positive pro-growth, pro- education agenda that puts your issues at the center of our concern.

No. 1: Jobs and how the Republicans are destroying them

The facts are this: 1.1 million homes are in foreclosure, and 1 in 5 Americans has a mortgage that is more than their home is worth. Until we work through this Bush Era debacle and get our vital construction trades back to work, our economy will suffer.

Obama stimulus at work on 364

When Obama took office, he boldly proposed a stimulus plan of a $288 billion to get our construction trades back to work. St. Charles County can see the results of this in the construction work on Hwy 94. Missouri’s Department of Transportation received $500 million from the Obama stimulus. They used $50 million of that to continue construction on 94 between Jungermann and Mid Rivers Drive.

The Republican reaction to these real jobs was to lie to America by saying, “Obama’s stimulus created no jobs.” Then Republicans further compounded unemployment by laying off 400,000 teachers, firemen, and policemen. They did this to protect their $60 billion a year tax giveaway to the upper 1 percent.

Their real agenda was revealed when the leader of the Republicans in the Senate, Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said, “Our top priority is to make Barack Obama a one-term President.” Really? With 14 million people needing jobs, foreclosures and bankruptcies at record rates, and with 55 million with no healthcare, Republicans are all about politics and giving more Benjamin’s to the wealthiest of all.

Please read on and see how the Republicans have engineered the greatest ‘class warfare’ on the middle class and poor in the history of this nation.

If you want real jobs to stay and grow in American: Come join us. We need your help.

No.2: Taxes and how the Republicans want no taxes on the wealthy

Nothing is more deleterious to jobs and recovery in America than the Republicans’ massive tax cuts to the wealthy. Republicans claim corporations and high income Americans need those cuts in order to invest in creating jobs. That is simply a fantasy.

In the past two years, $2 trillion of American dollars have been taken to send 2 million of our best jobs overseas. To add to these wounds, corporations are not expanding. Instead they are contracting because of massive corporate buyouts.

The InBev’s takeover of Anheuser Busch snatched $50 billion from job creation and Express Scripts buyout of Medco dumped another $28 billion into a pit without jobs. Instead of creating $78 billion in new jobs, these mergers will demand $78 billion in job and benefit cuts born by their workforce.

Top 1% income growth from Wall Street Journal

Over the past 30 years, the upper 1 percent have gone from 8 percent of all income to 24 percent. Compounding this atrocity, their taxes have been cut 25 percent in the last 15 years. We have doubled the wealth of this nation in the last 30 years, and 80 percent of that has been taken by the upper 2 percent.

Now, incredbly the Republicans want the top earners to pay no taxes. Under the Republican budget (Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), taxes on capital gains, dividends, and interest would be eliminated. This would mean the rich, like Warren Buffet, would pay no income tax.

When confronted with these facts, Republicans immediately cry ‘class warfare’. When billionaire Warren Buffet was asked about the Republican ‘class warfare’ claim, he said, “Is there class warfare? I’d say there is, and we’re winning.”

If you are for a fair and equitable tax system: Come join us. We need you.

No. 3: Education and how the Republicans are neglecting it

Everyone knows how important education is in the success of your children. Shamefully, Missouri is 43rd in per capita spending on education. Republicans will say how money is not that important. In George Bush’s first State of the Union, he told us, “You don’t have to spend more (on education) to expect more.” Then hypocritically, he sent his daughter to Yale.

If money is so unimportant in education, why didn’t Bush send his daughter to Prairie View A & M? Of course money is important, and saying it isn’t is just more propaganda from the wrong-headed right.

The children in Asian countries go to schools over 220 days a year. The children in Missouri go a shameful national low of 174. Japanese children go to school 235 days a year. In effect, Japanese go to school four years longer than Missouri’s students. Yet, due to costs, Republicans will not even consider extending the school year. By doing so, they abdicate any right to criticize our school system.

Missouri has over 150,000 handicapped children in public schools. The Individuals with Disabilities Educational Act, of 1975, promised the federal government would provide 40 percent of the cost of that program. When George W. Bush left office, Republicans had sliced that to a pathetic 11 percent.

One third of Missouri’s children are handicapped or dyslexic, Attention Deficit Disordered, hyper-active, or have one of a hundred other maladies needing special help. School districts are desperately short of special needs teachers, and have class sizes far too high for classroom teachers to afford vital extra time for their needs children.

Charter schools are the latest Republican scam. Their doors are not open to those who cannot meet a code that excludes children by ability, behavior, and parental participation. Yet, even with handpicking their students, charter school here in St. Louis and around the nation perform far worse than public schools.

As if the Republicans haven’t done enough, they have priced college out of the reach of far too many Missourians. Twenty years ago tuition was only 25 percent of the University of Missouri’s income. It is now 40 percent, thus closing its doors to many, while leaving most of the rest with a staggering debt to pay off in their young and struggling years.

If you are interested in better education for all: Come join us! We need your help.

No. 4: Healthcare and how the Republicans have sold their souls to the insurance industry

Democrats believe in healthcare for all Americans. Period.

America has the highest cost of healthcare in the world. Why? Think about this: What good do insurance companies do for the health of our citizens?

We need doctors. We need hospitals and nurses. We need drugs and other healthcare aides. Insurance companies don’t cure us from anything; yet, they take almost 20 percent of healthcare cost. We are the only country in the world that allows a profit on people getting sick.

If a procedure costs $10,000 when Medicare pays for it, insurance companies will collect $13,000 to $14,000 in premiums to pay for the same procedure. It is time we look at single payer plans like those Switzerland or France. Both have better healthcare than we do, everyone is covered, and they cost 40 percent less.

The French system is a great deal like the healthcare initiative of Obama. Everyone has to buy health insurance from private carriers. There are subsidies for low income people. Insurance companies are able to offer policies geared to individual’s needs, but their profits are capped. Most importantly, no one is denied coverage or treatment.

Republicans are joined at the hip with the insurance and drug companies. If you are tired of paying exorbitant premiums, having procedures denied, or having no insurance at all: Come join us! We need your help.